


A Captain's Carol

by astrangerenters



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Christmas, Dreams, Gen, Humor, Inspired by A Christmas Carol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-15
Updated: 2009-12-15
Packaged: 2017-11-27 23:57:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/667947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrangerenters/pseuds/astrangerenters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ohno knew it was a dream when Sho came into the green room in a reindeer costume.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Captain's Carol

Ohno knew it was a dream when Sho came into the green room in a reindeer costume.

A reindeer costume and metal chains that he was tripping over. “Satoshi…Satoshi!” Sho was saying in what he probably thought to be an intimidating voice. It wasn’t really, but Ohno was amused by the antlers so he didn’t need to wake up any time soon.

“Hey Sho-kun.”

Sho frowned. “I am a co-worker that you have greatly wronged.” It seemed almost like Sho was reading from a script Ohno couldn’t see.

He was confused. “Wronged?”

Sho looked as angry as he could manage, which wasn’t that much, at least not lately. “I should have been the leader of Arashi! You won in a mere game of chance!” He rattled his chains a few times. “For shame, Satoshi-kun!”

Oh, now he got it. He’d fallen asleep watching some Christmas movie – his mom had made him cookies and everything. Maybe he was just reliving the plot in his mind now. “You can be the leader if you want, Sho-kun. You could have come to me if it was such a big deal.”

“Well, it’s too late now,” Sho said, chains dragging on the floor. “Come on, I’m going to be your spiritual guide.”

“Guide?” he wondered, getting up from the green room couch. “Guide for what?”

Sho still seemed to have memorized lines here. “I am to show you the course of your life so you will see how much you suck and burden those around you.”

He shrugged. “Sorry.” He wasn’t really aware that he sucked, but maybe this dream was his subconscious trying to drop a hint.

He followed Sho out of the room and into his childhood home. It was a pretty thorough, detailed dream. He saw himself laying in his bed, TV blasting. He was probably nine years old. And for some reason, Nino was here, flicking the ears of the mini Ohno in the bed absent-mindedly.

“Hey Nino.”

“Hey Sho.” Nino sat up, and Ohno discovered his friend was in a Santa Claus outfit. Curious. “Oh. He’s here.”

Ohno stepped forward. “Why are you dressed like Santa?”

Nino just scowled. “It’s your dream, Leader, how the hell should I know? Anyhow.” He didn’t seem as prepared as Sho. “I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past or something.”

Sho bopped his reindeer head against Nino’s Santa hat.

“Oh, right.” Nino pointed to the mini Ohno. “I’m to show you how much you sucked as a kid.”

This dream was pretty mean spirited, wasn’t it? He watched as his mother, looking much younger, came into his room and switched the TV off. His younger self just slept while his mother picked up and put away all his toys, folded his laundry and put it away and then checked over his homework before putting it in his folder to take to school.

“Did you ever thank her?” Santa Nino asked. “No. You didn’t. You suck.”

“My mom does that because she likes to,” Ohno pointed out, getting a little annoyed with his fellow bandmates’ attitudes.

“She does it because she loves you, not because she enjoys folding your underpants,” Sho said, rattling the chain. Nino was going through the games in younger Ohno’s Famicom collection, obviously having completed his task in this strange dream situation. “The lesson is to thank her.”

“I thank her,” Ohno protested. Well, she did still buy all his clothes, make his dinner and do his laundry and he was nearly thirty. Maybe he could thank her more?

“Who’s next?” Nino asked, still going through the games. “I could sell this…”

“Aiba,” Sho said, gesturing for Ohno to follow him. “Come on, Leader.”

He trailed Sho past the bedroom door and back to the green room. Aiba was there dressed in normal clothes, and Ohno could tell that Sho was grumpy about it. “Where’s your costume?” Sho questioned, and Aiba retrieved a huge bag of gifts from behind the couch.

“You said I was the Ghost of Christmas Presents, Sho-chan.”

Sho just gaped at Aiba in irritation for a second, but Ohno didn’t mind. Aiba was already pulling out a brand new tackle box and several lures from the bag of gifts. Too bad it was a dream and he couldn’t really take them with him. “Thanks, Aiba-chan!” he said as Aiba took out fresh loaves of bread, too.

“No problem!”

“Aiba,” Sho pointed out. “You’re not supposed to be giving him presents. You’re supposed to tell him how horrible he is at leading Arashi.”

Aiba looked confused. “Why?”

“Because he needs to know,” Sho said. “It’s how that whole story goes. You get told that you suck so you get better.”

“Well, I think he’s fine the way he is,” Aiba noted, helping himself to some of the bread. He was spitting crumbs out all over Sho’s reindeer outfit. “It’s Christmas, you know! You should be nicer to our Leader.”

Sho sighed, chains clinking. “Leader, you’re manipulating this dream, aren’t you?”

He was eating bread, happier than a clam, and he shook his head. “I have no idea.”

Sho yanked him by his arm. “Okay, maybe this will make things clearer. Thanks for absolutely nothing, Masaki!”

“Thanks for the bread!” he called back over his shoulder to Aiba, tucking a few fishing lures in his pocket as Sho dragged him out onto a dock at a lake. Maybe the lures would still be there when he woke up? They were really nice – perfect for catching tuna.

Jun was waiting at the end of the dock looking furious. Probably because he was wearing a dumpy white dress and had a little plastic halo around his dark hair. Sho clanked along. “At least you can follow directions.”

“Aiba did presents, didn’t he?” Jun grumbled, crossing his arms. “Alright, Leader. I am the Ghost of Christmas Future.”

“Okay.”

Jun gestured out at the lake, and finally Ohno saw a very old man sitting in a boat by himself – why, it looked just like him! He was actually going to age someday! Boy, would Nino be jealous!

“See that?” Jun said, pointing to the boat. “That’s you. All alone.”

“I’m fishing!” Ohno declared excitedly.

“That’s not…” Jun interrupted.

“I’m smiling!”

“Riida! Pay attention!”

He did. Jun and Sho exchanged annoyed looks. They did that a lot – even in Ohno’s dream, it seemed.

“You may be fishing and smiling, but you’re all alone,” Jun continued. “Doesn’t that make you sad? You have no friends. At all.”

“But I’m fishing.”

Jun tore the halo off and flung it in the lake, stomping off down the dock. “I’m done.”

Sho just shook his head. It seemed that his dream wasn’t going the way his dream bandmates had hoped. Sho rattled his chains one more time. “Will you at least take something to heart here, Captain? We don’t want you to be alone. We’re your friends, you know.”

But they’d been awfully rude to him thus far, hadn’t they? Well, Aiba hadn’t. He’d at least take that to heart. Sho reached over and smacked his head. “Wake up.”

He did, sitting up in bed and blinking. What a stupid dream – his bandmates were rude and thought he sucked. He checked his pockets - no lures either. His mom brought in his cell phone.

“All charged up. You got a few messages,” she said quietly before heading out again.

“Hey mom?”

She turned, curious.

“Thanks. For all the little things you do for me,” he said, not used to really saying it out loud. She seemed surprised, but happy. She nodded and left.

Hmm. Maybe there were SOME things he could do to make sure his boat in the future wasn’t entirely empty. He composed a mail quickly, sending it to his four best friends.

_All,_

_Yakiniku tonight, my treat. Merry Christmas! ^__^_

_-O_

His wallet would ache for a while, but at least he would share Christmas with the people he loved.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t be in costume.


End file.
